Politics and congestion

Fuming

How the transport minister tried to undermine the congestion charge

IT SEEMS odd, as Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory party leader, pointed out this week, that Tony Blair, a man with a view on everything, is the only man in London with no opinion on the congestion charge. Parliament's transport select committee also commented on the government's curious silence on the issue: it found it “a matter of serious concern that the government is not at present prepared to make a more positive and open contribution to the national debate on congestion charging.”

There are good reasons for Mr Blair to keep his distance from the congestion charge. If it cuts traffic delays in London—and thereby allows the government to get some way towards its over-ambitious target of reducing congestion by 6% by the end of the decade—ministers will be quick to take the credit for introducing the legislation which allowed it to be brought in. Charging will then probably be introduced in cities all over Britain in the next few years. And if it fails, the prime minister will not want to have been seen supporting it.

Some in the Labour Party long for it to fail. Its sponsor, Ken Livingstone, always on the far left of the party, was thrown out of it because he insisted, against the prime minister's wishes, on standing as mayor of London. Worse still, he won. Plenty of his former party colleagues would be delighted if the scheme was a disaster. A major computer foul-up or even mass civil disobedience, some hint, would not be unwelcome. Mr Livingstone would then be ejected from office when he stands for re-election in a year's time.

The minister for transport, John Spellar, has never hidden his dislike of congestion charging. But until now, it has not been known that he has actively sought to undermine the scheme. Whitehall sources say that the minister asked the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority in Swansea not to co-operate with Transport for London. He later tried in vain to persuade civil servants to prepare a case for judicial review. Last he sought to delay the implementation of congestion charging by refusing to give his assent to the way the revenues were to be spent. Mr Spellar has accused the government-funded Commission for Integrated Transport, which supports road pricing, of pursuing “a narrow anti-motorist agenda”.

Mr Blair eventually got so fed up with these antics, which were directly contrary to government policy, that he told the then transport secretary, Stephen Byers, to put a stop to them. Since that prime ministerial reprimand, Mr Spellar has kept a low profile, refusing to be interviewed or answer written questions for this article.

The government worries that transport will be Labour's albatross at the next election. One sign of the prime minister's concern is that he has decided to chair a weekly ministerial meeting reviewing transport developments, particularly in the capital. Mr Blair at least is on speaking terms with Mr Livingstone— unlike the chancellor, Gordon Brown, who has long loathed the mayor. This feud has not done the capital's transport system any good. Robert Kiley, the American appointed by the mayor to head Transport for London, has been trying in vain for more than 18 months to meet the chancellor. “I am not sure he exists,” he says.